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Lenny

"Lenny was a very happy dog."

By Robin kuppensPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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Early Sunday morning Charlie woke up. He was so excited he couldn’t sleep any longer. Today was the day he was going to adopt his very first pet.

He jumped out of bed, got dressed, brushed his teeth and his hair. He even made his bed.

Charlie ran into his parent’s bedroom,.“Mom, Dad wake up! We have to leave soon or all the good pets will be adopted!”

His dad looked at the clock and said sort of grumpily, “It’s 6 in the morning. The adoption center doesn’t open up until 8. We have plenty of time.”

“Dad, pleeeeease! I don’t want someone else to adopt a pet that is meant for me,” he said.

“Okay, okay. We’re up. Go get some cereal and we’ll be right there,” his dad said.

As they were driving to the adoption center his mom asked, “So, do you know what type of pet you want to get yet?”

“I think I want a dog, or maybe a cat, or a bird. Can I get a pig?” he asked. Charlie really didn’t know what kind of pet he wanted but he knew he wanted one. He was seven and all his friends had pets.

“A dog or a cat will be okay. No birds and especially no pigs.” his mom said.

“Can it be a big dog?” he asked.

“Sure buddy, whatever kind of dog you want. Just remember you will be picking up after it, taking it for walks, bathing it, and feeding it. The bigger the dog, the more work it will be,” his mom reminded him.

“I know mom. It will be okay because he’ll be my friend and I’ll love him.” he told her.

They arrived at the adoption center and Charlie was excited to see that they were the first ones there. At 8 o’clock the doors finally opened. There were all kinds of dogs, cats, and birds. Charlie even saw a couple of pigs, baby cows, and a sheep. He knew his parents wouldn’t let him have farm animals so he went to look at the dogs instead.

All the dogs were barking and jumping at the short fence, except for one. He was bigger than the others and he was sitting all by himself in the corner looking very sad. “Can I see that dog?” he asked.

“Are you sure Charlie? He doesn’t look like he’d be a lot of fun to play with, he’s just sitting there.” his dad said.

“Yes dad, I’m sure. I want to see him.” Charlie told his dad.

His dad told the worker to pull that dog out so they could look at him better. The worker told them that the dog was a mastiff and that he could get up to 180 pounds. He also told him that he would need a lot of attention and food.

Charlie wasn’t listening to any of that. He was too busy staring at the dog and trying to get him to come over to him. Finally Charlie whispered to the dog, “What’s your name pup? My name is Charlie.”

“Hi Charlie, my name is Lenny,” the dog whispered back.

“Wow, you can talk?” Charlie whispered.

“Yes, but no one has ever heard me before,” he said. “Can I go home with you? It’s lonely here without my brothers and sisters and the other dogs took all my toys and chewed them up.”

“Mom, Dad, this is the dog I want. He’s perfect,” Charlie told his parents.

His parents filled out the papers and then they walked next door to the pet store. Inside the pet store Lenny saw all kinds of toys he liked. Charlie looked at him and said, “First we need to pick out a bed, then some food, and then we can look at toys, okay, Lenny?”

“Ooh, food? Good, because I’m really hungry,” Lenny said.

Charlie just laughed and they went to pick out a new bed, food, a collar, and a leash. Then it was time for Lenny to pick out his new toys. He wanted one of everything but Charlie told him he could only get two.

Lenny chose a stuffed buffalo and a coyote. “I’m going to name the buffalo Bill and the coyote will be Carl. Thanks Charlie, I love my new toys. Is it time for lunch? I’m hungry.”

Later that night, after Charlie and Lenny went to bed, Lenny woke up. He was hungry. “Charlie,” he whispered. “Charlie,” he whispered louder. “Charlie!” he said loudly.

“What, Lenny? Is everything okay?” he asked sleepily.

“Charlie, I’m hungry. I need a midnight snack,” Lenny told him.

Charlie looked at the clock.“Lenny, it's one o’clock in the morning, go back to sleep. I have school in the morning.”

Lenny sat there a moment. “Charlie, I need a one o’clock snack. I’m really hungry. My tummy said so.”

“Good night, Lenny, you can have breakfast in the morning. You don’t need a snack this late. Go back to bed.”

“Okay Charlie, but I really am hungry. Good night Charlie,” and he laid down and went to sleep.

That day after school Charlie came running home to play with Lenny and to tell him that on Friday he would get to go to school with him.

“Um, Charlie, when I go to school with you can I get a sack lunch too? Because I’m sure I’ll get hungry while I’m there,” Lenny asked.

“Of course, Lenny; I’ll make sure mom puts extra snacks in there for you,” Charlie told him.

Friday morning Lenny was so excited. Today he would get to go to school; Charlie told him all about school every night before they went they to bed. Lenny couldn’t wait for lunch and recess. He knew those would be his two favorite subjects. Charlie gave Lenny his backpack from last year; in it Lenny put his sack lunch, Carl, and Bill. He was all ready for his first day of school.

Lenny sat through the kids doing their lessons; he got bored so he took a snack from his backpack. Then he took another snack, and another. Finally it was time for show and tell. Charlie and Lenny went up to the front of the class.

“This is Lenny, he’s a mastiff, he is my very best friend in the whole world, and he can talk.” Charlie told the class. “Lenny, say hi to everyone.”

“Hi everyone,” he said quietly. The kids all heard him say it but all the teacher heard was “WOOF.”

All the kids started talking at once; they had never met a talking dog before. The teacher was getting a little mad because Lenny would not stop barking even though it did sort of sound like he was answering their questions.

After show and tell it was lunchtime. Lenny quickly got his sack lunch out of his backpack but it felt a lot lighter than this morning. When Charlie and Lenny sat down at their table Lenny opened up his bag. It was empty! Someone had eaten all of his lunch! Lenny started to cry, “I’m so hungry and someone ate my lunch. I’m going to starve to death; I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

The kids at their table reminded Lenny that he was eating his snacks during class.

“Oh, but now what am I going to do? I need to have a lunch or I won’t be able to do recess. I’ll be too hungry to play,” he started to cry again.

One by one each kid came up and gave Lenny something from their lunches; half of sandwiches, bags of chips, cookies, pudding cups, applesauce, and Twinkies were soon piled up in front of Lenny. Lenny ate every bite. “Thanks you guys, I was really hungry. Is it time for recess?”

The kids all went outside to run around. Lenny didn’t know what he wanted to do first. There were so many fun things to play on. He went over to the monkey bars but he wasn’t tall enough to reach the bars. Then he went over to the swings but he couldn’t figure out how to sit in the swing. He started to cry again. Charlie came running up to him, “Lenny, what’s wrong?” he asked.

“The monkey bars look fun but I can’t reach the bars. The swing looks really fun but I can’t figure out how to sit in it. There’s nothing for me to do besides run around and watch everyone else play. I don’t like recess anymore.”

“Did you try the slide?” Charlie asked.

“No, what’s a slide?” said Lenny.

“C’mon, I’ll show you,” and he took him up the ladder and showed him how to slide down.

“WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” he yelled. The slide was his new favorite thing to do. The other kids taught him how to play kickball, tetherball, and tag, but Lenny really liked the slide. He went down backwards, sideways, on his tummy, and with his friends. When recess was over, Lenny went back into the classroom and took a nap until school was over. It had been a long and exciting day. As Charlie and Lenny were walking home Lenny asked Charlie if he could go with him to school tomorrow.

“No silly, tomorrow is Saturday, there isn’t any school.” Charlie told him, “but maybe we could go to the zoo.”

Lenny was a very happy dog. “Charlie, I’m glad you and I are friends. I love you.”

Charlie leaned down and hugged him, “I love you too.”

dog
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